Data Robotics, best known for the Drobo range of storage solutions, has announced Drobo Sync, billed as the world's easiest-to-use remote backup for small and medium-sized businesses.

Additionally Drobo has introduced the Drobo S, which the company claims to be an "industry first" with support for multiple storage volumes and capacity of up to 32TB and higher.

Drobo adds the Drobo S is up to 10X faster than existing USB 2.0 solutions, while remaining backwards compatible to support USB 2.0 devices. Macs for instance, have yet to natively support USB 3.0, a decision which Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced last week in an email.

"When USB 3.0 was released, many storage vendors simply added a basic connector to their systems, but that precluded small and medium-sized businesses from taking full advantage of its promise," said Mark Peters, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group.

"In contrast, by specifically engineering the Drobo S to incorporate USB 3.0, Drobo has been able to optimise performance and ease-of-use, both of which being characteristics that such businesses will appreciate."

Drobo Sync meanwhile, can be configured in a few minutes with simple mouse clicks, and is included free with all new DroboPro FS models to provide users with a cost-effective alternative to cloud-based solutions for backing up terabytes of data.

The Drobo S is available now with a starting SRP of £509 (€599), excluding VAT with multiple configurations up to £1,149 (€1,349) excluding VAT for a 10TB bundle. System requirements are Mac (Mac OS X 10.5 or later), PC (Windows 2008 Server, Windows 2003 Server, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7) or Linux (Linux² using EXT3). File system formats supported are NTFS, HFS+, FAT32 and EXT3.

Drobo Sync is included for free with the purchase of any new DroboPro FS and is available as a free software upgrade to existing DroboPro FS customers.

The DroboPro FS is available at a starting price of £1,279 (€1,499) excluding VAT. Drobo provides a list of retail partners here.